The Drummer's Boy
by See266
Summary: Scorpius Malfoy always listened to Rose Weasley drumming. That's just the way it was.
1. Listening

Scorpius Malfoy always listened to Rose Weasley drumming. It didn't matter what time, which classroom or how long for. He was always there. He couldn't help himself. He always listened to Rose Weasley drum.

Scorpius always listened to her drumming. He didn't even know how it started; first year he supposed. It didn't really matter anyway, it wasn't like anyone was going to ask him. He didn't remember the first time anymore, why should he after all?

It took time before he worked out who was drumming. It wasn't until second year. Scorpius stopped listening for a while; it was, after all, his father's enemy's daughter. It didn't matter though, he came to realise. It didn't matter at all. She would drum and he would listen - that's just the way it was. Neither she nor anyone else had to know.

Scorpius Malfoy always listened to Rose Weasley drumming. But he never used to watch. He didn't have an invisibility cloak after all, and disillusionment charms were far too advanced. Like his father, he wasn't the brightest wizard in the year. He would often jam himself into a broom cupboard near by and listen. But not always. Rose had a tendency to change classrooms regularly and not all of them had a broom cupboard.

He always listened to her drum. He listened to her craft beats, grooves, fills and pieces. It was an escape for him. No one knew he was there, and to be honest he didn't care, he just liked the escape. There was no grandfather talking of disappointment, no mother scared of his shadow, no father stuck in his office with no time for his only son. And there were - perhaps most importantly - no stares.

The staring always riled Scorpius. He wasn't a death eater, merlin, the whole school new that. But it was something to cast upon him, someone to blame for the loss of uncles they never knew or grandmas they never met. Listening was a way to escape.

Of course there were a few stares, this was - after all - Hogwarts and no corners of the castle were that secret. But Scorpius either didn't mind or didn't notice. Probably the latter; he was so wrapped up in the thumping that he forgot the rest of the world existed. But there weren't that many really, Rose always had a way of picking secluded rooms.

Scorpius Malfoy always listened to Rose Weasley drum. He could finally get lost. He didn't notice anything or anyone and that was the way he liked it. He didn't even notice Professor Longbottom - Neville - cross the corridor and give him a knowing smile.

Scorpius Malfoy always listened to Rose Weasley drum. It was just, he supposed, what he did.

Rose Weasley knew Scorpius Malfoy listened to her drumming. Of course she did; she was the brightest witch in her year, just like her mother was. She didn't tell anyone, afraid that he would be embarrassed and leave and not come back. She didn't want that. Scorpius was, after all, the first person that didn't like her talents - or pretend to anyway - because of who her parents were. He listened because he wanted to, not because he wanted fame. He was the first person to give her hope.

It wasn't by chance the rooms were secluded. But Rose made sure Scorpius never knew. It was the time she tiptoed out of the classroom to find Scorpius curled up in a ball, tucked against the wall, asleep (although she never could work out how someone could sleep with all of that crashing), that she decided. Scorpius should never be somewhere that he couldn't sleep. Sleep changed him; he was no longer frowning, or trying to make himself invisible. He was just Scorpius, a normal teenage wizard. Rose liked that Scorpius.

Rose Weasley had been able to cast silencing charms from the Christmas of first year. James taught her (although how he learnt it she never knew, as silencing charms were only taught in fifth year), he said she'd need the practice in order to become a prankster (apparently some of his victims liked to scream and professors would come running).

But Rose never cast them when she was drumming; then there would be no Scorpius and for Rose that wasn't right.

It wasn't chance that he always found her when she drummed. The cleverest witch in her year obviously was not going to rely on pure chance. Because that wasn't what Rose Weasley did. No, Rose Weasley calculated and so (with a little help from Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs) she always walked past him with a pair of drumsticks in her hand.

Neville knew. Rose Weasley was aware of that much. He'd always give her this knowing smile as she glanced across to the blonde-haired Slytherin during Herbology. She didn't mind though; of all the people in her meddlesome family (blood related or not), Professor Longbottom was far more likely to keep his mouth shut than one of her idiot cousins.

Of course, Albus knew too. They had been practically joined at the hip since birth and getting hold of the map without him would have been an impossible job. But they were the only two people Rose trusted with her secret about drumming, not to mention the listener.

Rose found it strange at first. Her dad's enemy's son listening to her drum was not quite what she had expected at Hogwarts but soon she didn't mind. It was nice, she supposed, to have someone there for her.


	2. Changes

Fifth year was the year everything changed. Of course it was. The year of OWLs and, more importantly for Rose, the year the female population of Hogwarts became infatuated with a certain blonde haired Slytherin. The signs had always been there, Rose knew that. Girls in her dorm had discussed their not-so-clean fantasies, but Rose always shrugged them off, convinced being the well known son of a death eater would put them off. Not to mention the fact that he just slid around the castle in the shadows. They did judge at first, but everyone (except maybe her father who was fiercely loyal to first impressions) overcame prejudice at some point.

Rose was glad of course. When her crush no longer had to hide in the shadows and shy away to avoid confrontation for something that wasn't even his fault; of course she was glad. It was just he didn't seem to be hers anymore.

It was in fifth year the rumours started. When slightly more than half of the population of Hogwarts (mainly female but some male) noticed someone, the rumours were inevitable. One after another claimed that Scorpius Malfoy was the best snogger in the school. Again, Rose chose not to believe it; again, convinced that Scorpius would prefer to hide in the shadows. But everyone cracks at some point and it was Christmas when Rose cast her first silencing charm as she drummed.

It was a slap in the face when red-haired Tamara Brown came into the dormitory smirking, ready to describe a recent kiss. So much of a slap that Rose got As in three of her assignments; the first time in her whole four and a half years at Hogwarts. There again, however, it was also the first time she had to restrain herself from ripping off the head of Scorpius Malfoy.

If Professor Longbottom noticed a difference he didn't say. If he noticed the slight drop in her shoulders, or the sadness in her eyes after he asked Scorpius for an answer, he kept his mouth shut. If he noticed the way she no longer glowed or sprung to answer a question, he said nothing.

He didn't talk to the blonde either. If he caught sight of the sidelong, wishful glances that he gave a certain red-head he didn't mention it. If he saw the confusion and longing written plainly on his face when Rose tapped her fingers absentmindedly along the workbench, he didn't utter a word. Neville Longbottom was a bystander, aware that teenagers had to sort out themselves.

Scorpius was confused at the first silencing charm. Confused as to why, after years of practicing freely, Rose Weasley would silence her drumming. It never occurred to him that it might be his fault; he didn't even think she knew he listened.

Scorpius didn't notice the new looks he was getting around the corridors and halls. He didn't notice the girls stopping and staring, didn't hear the whispers of late night dates that surrounded him as he walked. He just noticed the sag in Rose's shoulders and the way she seemed to have disappeared from his sight.

It was a mistake, a one-time thing. A snog in a broom cupboard with a red-haired girl he was pretending was someone else. It didn't occur to him that she would find out, or that if she did, she would even care. It didn't occur to him that he might be responsible for her disappearance.

She used the map of course. Albus gave it to her without a second thought, aware of her heartbreak. He didn't ask questions, after all, he knew that she had inherited her aunt's talent for bat-bogey hexes, the memory of which were all to fresh in his mind.

And so Rose avoided him. She avoided him in class; always the last there and first to leave. She avoided him in the corridors and on the stairs. She avoided him, even though they had never had a conversation that lasted longer than 'please pass the plant pot'. Even though he wasn't hers to keep, she had lost him so she made herself invisible.


	3. Watching

Scorpius Malfoy suddenly had rather a lot of free time on his hands. He had never before had every night free, used to listening to her drumming and changing his schedule around that. He didn't really know what to do about it either. Scorpius didn't have any friends, too used to hiding in the shadows to socialise and anyway, who would socialise with the son of a death eater?

So Scorpius started to do two new things the spring term of fifth year. He spent rather a lot of time in the library and began to watch rather than listen.

The library was a strange place for Scorpius. His old routine of 'don't know the answer, don't answer' meant that he had never, or hardly ever, set foot in the room full of textbooks. But this changed and soon he was spending most evenings in the table nearest the door, just in case a certain red-head walked past. The teachers were astounded by what Scorpius Malfoy could do if he put his mind to it. They all thought that they had misjudged him rather, and that their class talks about really putting the work in to get top grades in the exams had finally got through to him. Only Professor Longbottom knew any different and stayed silent, all too aware that once a secret was out, the whole of Hogwarts would know all too soon.

For the first time in his life, Scorpius Malfoy began to watch. Since he was a young boy he had listened to the quiet arguments of his parents from inside locked doors on the manor. He had listened to his many disappointing traits being listed by his grandfather. He had listened to the radio - both muggle and wizard - as something to do when he was bored. And when he got to Hogwarts he listened to Rose drum.

But now Scorpius watched. He watched the door into the library. He watched her at dinner as she drummed her fingers on the table. He watched the way the crowds still parted around him, even if only slightly. And for the first time ever, he watched Rose Weasley drumming.

The idea had come to him when he was stuck in the library with nothing else to do. He browsed through the bookshelves until he found a rather large book with detailed instructions on how to disillusion oneself. The rest of the term and Easter holiday later, Scorpius Malfoy could successfully cast a disillusionment charm.

Rose Weasley knew he was there of course; bright as Scorpius was, he wasn't quite advanced enough to hide himself flawlessly. But she didn't mind this time. It might have been because the girls in her dorm complained that Scorpius didn't even notice them. Or that he and Tamara Brown no longer spoke. It might be the way she saw him in the library on the map and realised that maybe he did care about his schoolwork. It didn't really matter to either of them, because things were back as they should be; she would play whilst he would watch and Rose forgave him, because when she made herself invisible, he became invisible too.


	4. Leaving

Scorpius Malfoy watched Rose Weasley drumming for the rest of his time at Hogwarts. He listened too. Rose eventually trusted him again and lifted the silencing charm. But this time Rose avoided Scorpius on some days, aware that his grades would suffer if she didn't. And so they kept up the routine until the last day of Hogwarts, with Scorpius remaining oblivious to the fact that his presence did not go unnoticed. Rose knew he was there up until the very last day, when the exchanged a final nod across the hall, neither quite sure what it meant.

So they both left Hogwarts and moved in different circles. Scorpius went and worked for the Ministry of Magic, his OWLs and NEWTs good enough from his late night studies. And Rose, well no one really knew what had happened to Rose after Hogwarts. She had disappeared of the radar, perhaps taking a leaf out of her parents' book.

So Scorpius dated a bit, or rather went on dates and was disappointed when the girl turned out to be nothing like a certain red-haired Weasley drummer. He tried to move on, honestly he did. He tried to forget about the late night watching and listening. About the way her hair fell in her eyes and the way she drummed her fingers on the dinner table. About the way she sparkled when she got an answer correct. About the way she'd always get soil on the back of her neck during herbology. He tried to forget, honestly, but he never could.

And when Scorpius Malfoy turned on his wizard radio - he never had quit the habit - and heard the drum beats, and grooves and fills and pieces that he had heard crafted in empty classrooms, it was no surprise he spilt his pumpkin juice. Or that he was late for work and mumbled an apology to his boss. Because she had come back into his life without knowing it, and this time he knew there was no getting over it.

Rose Weasley had disappears looking for people to form a band with for three years but after three years with no results she gave up. Not in the I-can't-be-bothered-for-this kind of way, but in the fine-I-will-do-it-myself kind of way. And she did. She talked to all the right people, played all the right things, and (as much as she hated to admit it) used her name to pull a few strings. So when her drumming made it onto the radio, she was pleased with herself. But she never forgot the blonde-haired Slytherin who gave her the confidence and belief that she was worthy.


	5. The Drummer's Boy

Scorpius Malfoy continued as he used to, the only difference that he tuned into the radio whenever he heard a rumour that Rose was playing. And she went on to become a famous drummer, both in the Wizarding world and the muggle one. Rose gave interviews, each of which Scorpius read. Rose became a sensation, and Scorpius knew about it. But he never attended a concert, too afraid that she would fall through his fingers again.

So the day that Scorpius left his apartment, ready to apparate to the Ministry of Magic, and found a ticket to Rose Weasley's next concert caught on the railing outside, he wasn't quite sure what to do. He hadn't seen the slip of an elbow out of an invisibility cloak, or heard the quiet temporary sticking charm as a ticket appeared on the railing. He didn't know that it was a VIP ticket, with backstage access - the only one in the concert in fact. Scorpius didn't know that he had been remembered.

But Scorpius went to the concert, and met the crew backstage. And Rose Weasley stayed at the side, watching and waiting for the boy that had spurred her on. So when he finally came to meet her, and they exchanged their first proper conversation, both of them knew this wasn't the end. Scorpius remembered why he had fallen in love with her, and Rose realised that she may never find someone else.

So they went on dates. And started dating, and eventually he proposed. Scorpius Malfoy was no longer known as the son of a death eater, rather the drummer's boy. But he didn't mind, because him being invisible allowed her to shine. And when they told their parents, neither pair minded - they had been warned by Professor Longbottom a long time ago.

 _ **~~ The End ~~**_

 _AN - My first finished story (with chapters)! I hope you enjoyed it._


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